"Dereham Walkers are Welcome" or "Dereham WaW" is a not for profit organisation. The group is organised by a committee of volunteers.


Our aims are:

• Promoting Dereham as a good location for recreational walking for the benefit of local residents, visitors and the tourism economy;
• Working to improve access for the purpose of the enjoyment of the local countryside and facilities for all;
• Monitoring Public Rights of Way (PRoW) within the Dereham Parish boundary to resolve issues early;
• Working to maintain and improve facilities for walkers including, but not restricted to, PRoW and public transport;
• Publicising local PRoW and other walking routes; maintaining membership of the National WaW Network to promote it and Dereham WaW.

Dereham WaW will act in partnership with the community, businesses, relevant groups and Local Authorities to achieve these aims.


There are many places to walk in Dereham. Some are public streets, some are parks and open spaces. Dereham has 41 public rights of way - paths and tracks which everyone can use by right.


Dereham is located in the centre of Norfolk, with good public transport and road links within and beyond the county. The First Express bus Excel connects Peterborough to Lowestoft via Dereham and other towns along the A47. More locally, Konect buses run to outlying towns and villages, while the Mid Norfolk Railway provides a link to Wymondham and the national rail network. Being central, virtually anywhere in the county can be reached within an hour by car, so giving access to the extensive and popular coastline, as well as the Peddars’ Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail and the ever increasing Norfolk Trails network.

Dereham lies just south of the Nar Valley Way and the Wensum Way, both of which are Norfolk Trails, and has a well signposted connection to them at Gressenhall. Dereham itself offers a good range of different types of public walking routes, including many footpaths and restricted byways, though most are apparently little known to judge by the positive reactions of people to the Dereham Walks guides. These include urban routes through the town, stream side paths across water meadows and field edge paths out in the country. Dereham also has some excellent open spaces, most notably the very well used Neatherd Moor, which is fed by a number of adjacent restricted byways.


The town itself has all the services you would expect of a market town - shops, cafés and other eating places, as well as interesting places to visit (such as Dereham Windmill, the Mid Norfolk Railway and Bishop Bonner’s Cottage and Museum).

For more about us and some of the other things we do, see our printed leaflet (PDF, opens in a new tab).

Places to visit in Dereham:

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